Wen vows tough stand in battle with polluters

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-10-19  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

STRONG measures, including economic, legal and administrative, should be taken when necessary to restrict China's high energy consuming and heavy polluting businesses, says Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Wen made the remarks in an interview with the United States' Science Magazine last month.

"China is a main energy consumer and, therefore, is also a big greenhouse gas emitter," Wen said in the exclusive interview with the magazine's Editor-in-Chief Bruce Alberts at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound.

"We have established a goal that our GDP growth every year must be accompanied by a 4 percent decrease in energy consumption and a 2 percent reduction in COD (chemical oxygen demand) and sulfur dioxide emissions every year," he said.

Wen briefed Alberts on China's current situation on usage and conservation of energy.

With regard to China's energy consumption and pollution, Wen said it was essential to adjust the country's economic structure and transform its mode of development to make it more dependent on science and technology and the quality of the work force.

"We have only been industrializing for several decades, while developed countries have been on this road for over 200 years," Wen said. But we will now begin to shoulder our responsibilities, namely the common but differentiated responsibilities set forth in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol," he said.

Every year, China produces about 180 million tons of crude oil and imports about 170 million tons. Its coal production exceeds 2.5 billion tons a year.

Wen said consumption of non-renewable fossil fuel at such a massive scale was not sustainable.

He told Alberts it was important for China to attract the best brainpower and scientific talents to be able to continue its policy of opening up to the outside world.